US abortion pill providers see surge in interest after judge targets mifepristone

People are seeking the advance provision of medication before Friday's deadline, when the drug may become unavailable

Abortion pill websites and providers are seeing a surge of interest following a series of court decisions that threaten to block access to one of the major abortion drugs, mifepristone.

Carafem, a national abortion provider with a wide range of telehealth services, said it had seen a 38% increase in people booking virtual appointments since the first ruling on Friday upending the FDA's 2000 approval of mifepristone. Many customers have been asking whether they can order abortion medication before becoming pregnant - what is known as advance provision", a number of providers said.